Lala shuts down

Lala.com, the streaming service that provides those little widgets you see in our album reviews and which was recently acquired by Apple, has announced it will be shutting down on May 31, 2010.

A statement on the website reads as following:

You will be able to access and play all music in your Lala collection through May 31, 2010. Any mp3 songs purchased and downloaded from Lala will continue to play as part of your local music library. You can continue to purchase mp3 songs through May 31st using your wallet balance or other payment methods.

As of today, web songs, wallets, and gift cards are no longer available for purchase on Lala. Uploads have been discontinued, and we are not accepting new users for the service.

Launched in March 2008, Lala claimed to have 8 million licensed songs available for registered users (via Billboard). It was acquired by Apple in December 2009, and many have speculated that Apple plans to use Lala’s staff and technology to service its own cloud-based service.